The roots
by Eliza G
Summary: This was conceived prematurely to Chrono Cross and the new Chrono Trigger. Lavos has been defeated, and life seems normal, but evidently, they didn't get to the very root of the problem. Crono and the others are about to find out a lot more about the univ
1. First Wind

Author's Notes: This fanfic was conceived very prematurely to the release of Chrono Cross (or the PSX version of Chrono Trigger). As far as this 'fic is concerned, Chrono Cross never happened, nor did those added scenes on the new version of CT. I began writing this a couple of years ago, and decided to drag it out and tweak it. Also, if you're against the protagonist talking, forgive me-I'll try to keep Crono as quiet as possible.  
  
  
  
The planet.  
It shone like a brilliant sapphire amongst all the tiny diamonds on a sheet of blackest velvet.  
This orb teemed with life of every kind-the sea, earth, and sky all had their inhabitants. It was a happy planet.  
He clenched his steel-bound fingers onto his armrest, glaring at this planet. It was different from the others. It had not provided his Lavos with life-it had only brought it death. This planet and its difficult inhabitants-he would have to deal with them personally.  
His cold hand pushed a small, stainless-steel button at the end of the armrest. A moment later, the door to his chambers flew open, hollow footsteps indicating someone entering.  
"This planet full of life," he whispered. "Sound, does it not revolt you?"  
"Yes, my master," the other replied, his voice much younger. "It revolts me very much."  
The view of the planet out of the window shifted once, then again, as the master shifted himself through time. "As you can see," he said, "my Lavos has failed here."  
"It has failed?" Sound asked, his voice rising only slightly. Sound had been plucked from this planet himself. His master had brought him to a life beyond death; a life where one's travel of the fourth dimension-time-became a simple thing. One could mentally decide when he wanted to be, and it would be so.  
It was an incredible power.  
"It has," confirmed Sound's master. "Unfortunately, it was not enough for this rebellious little sphere."  
"Then," Sound suggested, "am I to alter time so that it succeeds after all?"  
His master shook his head. "No, Sound. They will be on guard if we alter time. I suggest we eliminate the poisons, then plant our seeds in that earth once again.  
"I am to dispatch them, then," Sound stated.  
"Yes," his master replied. "I must warn you-the procedure will be very complicated. The heroes all lie in different times… and there are a few that I would like to have made into my servants instead."  
Sound nodded once. "As you wish," he said.  
His master pushed a second button, out of his group of six on his little control panel. The view of the planet in front of them faded to a screen with fifteen portraits on it.  
"These seven," his master indicated, "were the core of the plots against my Lavos. I have substantial data on all of them-their names, their ages… and their ancestors," he said, cracking a malicious grin. "Try to erase them without much of a fuss."  
"Yes, master," Sound said, using his robotic eye to download this data into his mind.  
"The rest," his master continued, "are key figures in their plot. These three," he indicated with his hand, "were gurus who aided these 'heroes' in the destruction of my Lavos. One of them has already passed; you needn't worry about him. The others, however, must be eliminated. I would like this one-" again, he indicated one portrait "-to be included as a servant of mine."  
"Are your instructions complete, master?" Sound asked.  
"No," his master said. "I want you to retrieve this one… she is dead already, and her body lies crushed in the bottom of the sea. "However, she would be a great asset… I want her captured." He paused. "That is all."  
Sound gazed at her portrait. What a lovely face. The still-human part of his mind flickered with life before the robotic portion suppressed it back again. "As you wish," he replied, and left the chamber.  
  
  
"He's late," Marle commented, icily, gazing at the clock in the ferry office.  
Lucca sighed, and buried her face in her right hand. Flipping her short, primrose-colored hair back behind her ears, she said, "Do you think one of us should go and get him? He's going to miss the ferry at this rate, and we really wanted to reach Medina by noon."  
Indeed, there was a festival in Medina beginning today-it marked the completion of the Medina-Truce ferry route, and much more peace between it and the nation of Guardia. Though they were not keen on any more fighting, Lucca, Marle, and their friend Crono all agreed on one thing-they'd gone through so much that they were going through the days in a dull sort of way. The festival was just the kind of thing they needed.  
"The inn bookings will skyrocket if we don't," Marle sighed. "Why don't you go get him?"  
Lucca nodded. "All right," she said. "If I don't make it, get us a room." Lucca fished a sack of gold out of the short cargo pants she was wearing. "It won't be as good as we want without Crono's share," she said, "but take all my cash. I'll make him pay me back later."  
Marle accepted. "Hurry back!" she called to Lucca, who dashed out of the ferry office.  
  
Lucca knocked on the front door of Crono's house, then quickly let herself in.  
"Oh, good morning, Lucca!" Crono's mother said, cheerfully. "Are you looking for Crono? He's still asleep."  
"That little…" muttered Lucca. Then she looked back up at Crono's mother. "We were supposed to leave somewhere about now! Can I go wake him up?"  
Crono's mother sipped some coffee mildly. "Lord knows I haven't tried, dear, but you go right ahead and do your best."  
"Thanks," Lucca said. She bolted up the stairs, narrowly avoiding stepping on a few of the many cats who made their home here. She was relieved to see that they looked well-fed-Crono often forgot to feed them.  
Lucca burst into his room and immediately poked her sleeping friend in the ribs. "Wake up!" she yelled. Crono did not stir.  
Narrowing her eyes, Lucca tried kicking him with the toe of her scuffed sneakers. Once, twice, and then once again. Crono rolled over and muttered something.  
Lucca glanced at his clock, impatiently. If they didn't hurry, they really would miss the ferry. Looking around, then checking to see if his mother was coming, she closed the door. Scooping a handy kitten off of the floor, she carefully placed the small animal onto her friend's face. After a minute, the kitten decided that it liked sitting here indeed, and curled up over Crono's eyes.  
Finally, sensing something on his face, Crono stirred. With his right arm, he lazily groped at his face, trying to detect the foreign object that was making its home there. When he clumsily grabbed the kitten, he sat bolt upright, upsetting the feline and making it angry enough to sink its claws into his legs, where it had landed.  
Crono yawned, picked up the cat in his arms, and gazed at his friend, who was stifling her laughter with little success. "Luc," he told her, "if you ever do something like that again, I'll-" he yawned once more, slurring the rest of the sentence-"go back in time with Epoch and erase you."  
Lucca grinned. "Oh, you will not," she told him. "What you will do is get up, get dressed, and get moving. Looks like we've already missed our ferry."  
Something lit up on Crono's face and he swore. "I forgot all about that!"  
"Evidently," his friend replied. "Marle already left, though, so she'll get us room at the inn. However, since you weren't there, I had to give her all of my money."  
Crono stepped out of bed and slipped on pants and a tunic, groaning at this news. "How much do I owe you, then?"  
"400G," Lucca told him, crisply, holding out her hand.  
Crono slipped on his coverall, then strapped his belt and sword around his waist. "Fine, fine," he muttered. He retrieved his money bag from its place under his bed and counted out the gold pieces. Lucca accepted them and stashed them inside her periwinkle satchel.  
"Shall we go, then?" Lucca asked, when Crono had thrown together everything he needed.  
"May as well," he replied. "We can catch the 10:30 ferry if we're quick."  
Lucca shot him a quick, sharp glance, then smiled. She could never stay annoyed with him for long. The two of them walked downstairs, said good-bye to his mother, then walked back to the ferry office. Lucca paid for their tickets, then sat back down on the bench with Crono, awaiting the ferry.  
  
It was the summer of the year 1000, and spirits ran high at the festival in Medina. Sound found this disgusting-human emotions were a thing his new self was glad to have left behind. Still, the mood of everyone around him was a bit much for his mechanically controlled mind. It was something he only barely remembered from before.  
Sound activated his scanners. He was glad that he wore a hooded cloak. This way, none of the humans here would notice the mechanical attachments on his head.  
Also a wise move, he thought, was not wearing a black or brown cloak-the one he wore was a deep forest green. People were intimidated by the other darker colors, but this one seemed to be in fashion. He didn't look terribly out of place.  
With his scanner on, Sound glanced around. The scanners he wore were special-they identified magical power within humans. If his master was correct-and the Master always was-then there were only three humans in this era with elemental powers.  
His scanner beeped, telling him it had found no lightning magic in the festival area. That was strange. They were all supposed to be here today. The festival was in full swing… this was odd.  
He shrugged it off, and set them for fire instead.  
Still, there was nothing. He began to worry. If they were not here, his master would be displeased… and though he could control the fourth dimension, neither of them were omniscient-they would be harder to find after the festival.  
Sound resigned, and set his scanning to water magic.  
He stood there, turning in a full circle. He pretended to be checking out the food options; many others were turning similarly, deciding between all the brightly colored awnings advertising things he'd never heard of and had no desire for. Food had become a low priority.  
The scanner beeped once-Sound's heart rose just slightly-then went out.  
Then, it beeped faintly again.  
He was picking up the ice signals.  
Surely, he thought, if I take this one away, the others will come for her.  
And with that, the cloaked man moved swiftly through the crowd, heading directly for his target.  



	2. Edge of Storms

  
Marle tried to recall when the ferry after hers left from Truce, but she simply could not pull this information from her memory. Obviously, she and Lucca had been looking forward to this festival so much that neither of them had stopped to think about Crono's favorite pastime.  
Upon her arrival, Marle had managed to get them all a room at the inn, registering in all of their names. She had gone upstairs to the room only briefly to stash her luggage, then given the keys.  
For awhile, she had tried to wait, to see if Crono and Lucca showed up anytime soon. When they didn't, she had grown tired of sitting around doing nothing and gone off to the festival alone.  
Admitted, it still wasn't much fun without them. She felt a bit self-conscious, and wondered if there was anyone here who would recognize her… she was the princess, after all, and somewhat of a public figure (though she tried hard as she could to avoid the spotlight). Where were her friends?  
When she heard footsteps rushing up behind her, her heart leaped, and she turned around. However, it wasn't her friends-all she saw was a strange man in a cloak.  
"Your eyes," he said. "I can perceive the ice in them."  
Marle cracked a very uncomfortable smile. "Um," she said, pointedly. "They're green."  
Sound had a tiny urge to laugh, but this, too, was repressed. "I do not mean the color," he told her. "I speak of the depth; I see magic in your eyes."  
"What makes you think I can use magic?" Marle asked, innocently, her eyes sparkling. Little did she know that the very shine in her eyes was exactly what this hooded man was looking for.  
"Miss," he told her. "Why don't you just come with me over there. I will show you exactly how I know."  
Marle narrowed her eyes. "Don't you think I'm smarter than that?" she snapped. "just because I'm a girl, alone, at a fair, doesn't give you the right to order me around like that."  
He took hold of her hand. "I promise--"  
"I'll scream," she threatened.  
The man let go of her hand, and bowed. "Forgive me, then. Allow me to introduce myself. I am called Sound."  
Sound's mechanized mind was buzzing with all this information. It was difficult to deal with a teenager such as this girl and still speak normally. As she stared at him warily, he searched his database for the information he needed. She would have to be silenced; that was for certain. After that, he would show her what the true mission was and then bring her to his master.  
"Miss," he said. "I shall give you one more chance to follow me peacefully. After that, I will have no choice but to use force."  
Marle looked around, wildly hoping to glance Crono or Lucca wandering about in the crowd. Unfortunately, there were no familiar faces to be seen.  
She stared at the strange man about where she figured his eyes had to be. "No," she said.  
Faster than she could have imagined, Sound placed a gloved hand over her mouth and began to drag her away. She tried to scream, but no sound emerged. She tried biting his hand; that was ineffective as well. And what was wrong with this festival crowd? No one seemed to notice that a seedy-looking guy in a cloak was dragging her away into a clearing of trees.  
Sound threw her down to the ground on the grass. "Miss," he said. "I will now show you who I truly am, and what I have come here to achieve."  
Sound pulled off his hood, and Marle began to scream. What she saw looked to be mostly a human head, but the upper left quarter of his head was covered in some sort of robotic apparatus; the kind of thing Lucca would have a field day with. Red, green, and blue lights flashed all about, and a red screen covered his left eye. His right eye was an unnaturally pale shade of blue. His skin was pale, and he had only a little hair on the right side of his head. It was a muted gray-green shade.  
Sound quickly put out his hand, and Marle's scream ceased almost as soon as it had begun. She gasped, not knowing what had hit her. It had felt like magic-only, somehow, it was stronger than the magic she knew. She tried to make some sound emerge from her throat, but for the moment, she was completely mute.  
"I am told," Sound said, "that you had a hand in defeating my master's Lavos."  
She opened her mouth to protest, forgetting her affliction for a minute. Then, she simply glared and nodded.  
"You cannot meddle in the affairs of higher beings," Sound lectured, his voice emotionless. He'd given up trying to sound human; he wasn't a human any longer. "I will bring you to my master, and you shall see this is true."  
  
"Where is she?" Lucca muttered, in anger.  
Crono shrugged.  
"Yes, I know that you don't know," Lucca told him. "I was being rhetorical. Don't you think that something might be wrong?"  
Crono shrugged again; Lucca rolled her eyes.  
"Thanks for your input," she said, dryly. "I know that Marle can be a flake sometimes, but somehow I don't think she'd blow us off here."  
"Maybe we should ask somebody," Crono suggested.   
Lucca nodded. "Right, let's find someone."  
They walked a bit and came upon a row of food booths. At the end of this row, there was a small table. A small blue imp sat there, exchanging people's gold for food coupons.  
"Excuse me," Lucca said, hurrying up to it, Crono at her heels. "I was wondering-did you see a girl with blonde hair and green eyes, about our age?"  
"She has a bright red necklace," Crono added. Lucca nodded in agreement.  
The imp seemed to ponder this for a minute. "Maybe I did see her," the imp said, "but that was about an hour ago. Can I interest you in some food coupons? The berry pasties over there are extremely-"  
"Later," Lucca said, and dragged Crono off with her. They toured the entire square, and while people claimed to have seen her, the last person who said so had said she'd been gone for fifteen minutes.  
"She was there when I came over here," the man said. "Then I bought this-" he held up a lovely pewter flask-"and when I turned around, she'd left."  
Crono and Lucca decided to go back to the inn and talk about it. They could stay there awhile, and if Marle came back there then their problems would be over.  
"Hi," Lucca said to the imp running the counter. "did a Nadia Guardia XXXIII make reservations here earlier today? Room for three?"  
"I can't give you that information, sorry," the imp said crisply.  
"Maybe she got it in all our names," Crono suggested.  
"Good thinking," Lucca told him. She reached into her back and pulled out her ID card. "How about Lucca Ashtear? Is there a reservation in my name?"  
The imp thumbed through the thick book. "Yes, there is. Room three. Would you like your key now?"  
"Yes, thank you," Lucca said, accepting the key from the imp. She and Crono unlocked the room, and relieved themselves of their overnight bags, which they'd been carrying around with them.  
"Her stuff's here," Lucca said. "I wish I knew where she was! I really don't think she'd blow us off all of a sudden. Something has to be wrong."  
"Probably," Crono said, flopping back on the bed. "What can we do, though? We've got no way to find her."  
"If only we had something that reacted to Dreamstone," Lucca said.  
"We don't carry that stuff anymore," Crono said pointedly. "That war is over."  
Lucca sighed. "Maybe someone tried to kidnap her," she said. "She is the princess after all."  
"I hope not," Crono said. "That's how the whole thing got started. I know that defeating Lavos was the most important thing we'll ever do with our lives, but I don't want to mess with that kind of thing anymore."  
Lucca was thoughtful. It was true, the events that had changed all their lives had been set in motion when Marle had disappeared at Guardia's Millennial Fair. She thought the ordeal had been good for her, except for the part when Crono had melted at Lavos' hand in the undersea palace. Losing him had possibly been harder on her than anyone else, even if she hadn't shown it as much. People seemed to approve of Crono being paired up with Marle, the princess.  
No one knew that this had happened to Crono. The three teenagers only told outsiders vague details of their adventures; they knew nothing of half the things that had happened. They only knew that they'd chased Lavos through time.  
"Lucca," Crono said.  
"Oh," she said, shaken out of her thoughts. "Sorry, what is it?"  
"I have my sword," he said, gesturing to his bag. "We could go search the surrounding areas. If someone really did drag her off, we'll have to fight."  
"Oh, but I'm unarmed," protested Lucca. "I was counting on us having a regular, peaceful time here."  
"You could use magic," Crono told her. "Your magic is the strongest of the three of us, anyway."  
"Remember, Crono," Lucca told him. "We've got to be normal."  
"We're not normal," Crono said. "We saved this world. Nothing of this world stands a chance against any of us; we're that strong."  
"Don't you want a normal life?" Lucca asked, then wish she hadn't. Everyone figured that Crono and Marle would probably get married when they were older and he'd become king.  
Crono shrugged, elusively. "That's not an issue right now. Let's find Marle and then worry about being normal, okay?"  
Lucca nodded. "All right, then."  
  
  



End file.
